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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThis manuscript page shows Raphael’s process of composing poetry, featuring several revised stanzas and lists of potential rhymes. The handwriting is energetic, with numerous strike-throughs and corrections that reveal the artist's struggle to find the right meter and expression. This specific sheet is the reverse side of a preparatory drawing for the 'Disputa' in the Vatican Stanze.
Raphael's sonnets reflect the pervasive influence of Neoplatonic love theory and Petrarchan lyricism within the papal court. This text explores the concept of the 'amorous veil' and the soul's relationship to divine light, themes that mirror the theological and philosophical programs of his frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura.
Como no[n] podde dir d'avo[n]tra dei qual quando come discese ha dal cielo così l'alma per un amoroso velo avviluppata tutti i pensier miei. Paro qua[n]to el mio vidd... Dunque a pregare... [Rhyme columns:] merci ver lei dei colei miei colei fai
Translation
As I cannot say of another god, who, when, and how he descended from heaven, so the soul, through an amorous veil, has enveloped all my thoughts. [Rhyme list includes: mercy, truth, her, gods, that woman, mine...]
Marsilio Ficino
The sonnet's themes of the soul (l'alma) and the amorous veil reflect Ficino's Neoplatonic theories on the spiritual nature of love and beauty.
Pietro Bembo
Raphael was a personal friend of Bembo, whose 'Gli Asolani' standardized the Neoplatonic discourse in Italian lyric poetry.
Object
Oil on panel
scientific
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://collections.ashmolean.org/
800 × 1167 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.